No home in the darkness...

But you are a chosen generation,
                  a royal priesthood,
                  a holy nation,
                  His own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him
           who called you out of darkness
                     into His marvelous light;
           who once were not a people
                     but are now the people of God,
           who had not obtained mercy
                     but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 NKJV

Notice that the chosen generation referred to in this passage could not have existed before the foundation of the world.  Whoever they were, they were called out of darkness into light...made into a people of God and obtained mercy because of some event in time.  That the word "chosen" appears in a verse of scripture should not trigger some proof-texting sense of glee in a calvinist's heart that negates the rest of what is being said.

Throughout the Old Testament and the Gospels, the term "generation"** is used frequently to refer to disobedient and stubborn fools who know what the Bible says but join forces with Satan in mocking God and demanding their own way.  In contrast (Psalm 14:5, etc.), the word "generation" is also used to describe those who are followers of God and choose to live according to the relationship they have with Him.  From a New Testament perspective, the relationship we have with God is based on our decision to believe in the free gift of salvation that Jesus provided at a specific place and specific time.  At the cross.

God is not the kind of person that plays games with people and establishes His judgment on nebulous conditions.  He gives specific instructions and provides clear procedures for getting what He wants (the words, "God's will" sometimes lose their meaning as religious terms and we forget that the will of God is simply - what God wants).  Salvation is easily understood as believing in Jesus; accepting Him into your heart.  God wants people to be saved.  Most of all, he wants children to be saved.  He does not establish foolishness that children cannot understand as the basis for their salvation.  The complex nonsense of calvinists who demand pre-creation credentials and satisfying the legalistic demands of human clergy dangerously defies the command of Jesus, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Mark 10:14-15.

Little children of any age (there are no "adults of God" in the Bible) must beware of those who want evidence of salvation that is none of their business.  Jesus is perfectly capable of judging the human heart.  He knows who has accepted Him as savior.  He knows who has viewed the cross from afar and who has splinters in their hands from clinging to it.  Accept the gift of Jesus.

Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

** e.g., Deuternomy 32:5, Psalm 12:7, Proverbs 30:11-14, Jeremiah 7:29, Matthew 12:39, Matthew 24:34 Mark 9:19, Luke 11:32, Acts 2:40.

Don't wander off...

Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift
and every perfect gift
   is from above,
 and cometh down from the Father of lights,
   with whom is no variableness,
   neither shadow of turning.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.   James 1:16-18 KJV

James has just given a verbal picture of the invariable operation of human desire that, in the realm of sin and death, leads to personal sin and the formation of demons (James 1:13-15).  Why, then, does he interject the words of verse 16?…”Do not let yourselves be led astray, beloved brothers of mine.”  The obvious answer comes from the contrast of verses 17-18.  The invariable blessing of light from the Father is sharply contrasted with the invariable operation of human desire and the deadly results of human sin.  Fatherly light begets firstfruits of goodness, even in the realm of sin and death.  Human darkness begets sin and full grown sin begets demons.  Bad leads to worse.

The begetting operation of Fatherly light is not done by Gnostic pre-destination of pre-existing beings that are actualized in time (injected with “saving faith” in the terminology of stupid, non-biblical, calvinism).  The operation of Fatherly light is accomplished in time, in the midst of the formation of human evil.  Again, it is accomplished in time by the perfect work of Jesus Christ (Jesus is God) who perfectly obeys the will of the Father as a human son (Hebrews 5:8-9).  Since all other humans are on a level playing field in that all of us who are old enough to sin are sinners, then the only way to get in on the begetting operation of God is to receive the gift of blood-bought forgiveness from Jesus.

The message that is Good News for all of us as humans is that Jesus made the gift of salvation and forgiveness a real gift.  Beware of the wolves who preach that salvation belongs to the earnest and well adjusted seeker who will well integrate himself into church life and the demands of the clergy.  Salvation is a gift that is received by wretched sinners who trust the Father who has no hidden agenda, no shadows of darkened reprobation…no pulling the rug out from under them.  Jesus will be the judge of who is saved and who is not – He needs no human help in keeping His book of life up to date.

Jesus Christ makes an earnest offer of salvation to all who need Him.  He accomplished the ground breaking work of new creation in time.  The old creation has nothing to offer but sin and demons, death and hell.  The door to the newness of life is open at the cross, nowhere and no-when else.

Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

Jesus, Son of God, is God.

For unto which of the angels said He at any time,
    Thou art my Son,
    this day have I begotten Thee?
And again,
    I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son? 
And again,
when He bringeth in the Firstbegotten into the world,
He saith,
    And let all the angels of God worship him.  Hebrews 1:5-6

Here, at least, is a place in the Word where the calvinist must admit the foolishness of his notion that tries to explain salvation occuring before the cross.  Here we find an explanation of the ancient prophetic words spoken by David (Psalm 2) that describes the point in time when God the Father names the first man who has been born from among the dead as His own Son.  Of course, this man is none other than the man who is also God = Jesus. 

The obvious point of attack against the foolishness of the calvinized imaginators (they have no right to claim to be thinkers since they appear to have no capacity to understand what is clearly written in Scripture) is that the begotten condition of Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, happens in time.  Anyone that tries to establish a claim to salvation credentials that were issued before the resurrection (Acts 13:33) is deceived by bad picture thinking and refuses to order his thoughts according to the truth abouut Jesus.  Jesus is God.  You calvinists are in dangerous territory when you explain God and the things you say cannot be proven through Jesus (John 1:18).

The first thing that Jesus did when He took up His new position as High Priest and Savior of mankind was to begin writing a book.  The book that Jesus is writing is the book of salvation.  Apparently, there are many names of many people in that book already.  That book was not written before the worlds were made so that some people got in on salvation automatically.  Every human has the capacity to come to Jesus and receive the free gift of having his/her name written in His book of Life.  Jesus Christ does not offer eternal security -- a safe deposit box for a selected few.  Jesus offers to write your story of eternal salvation along with everyone who believes in Him (Hebrews 5:9).

Accept the free gift of Jesus.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

New creation material.

They profess that they know God;
but in works they deny him,
being abominable,
and disobedient,
and unto every good work
reprobate.
Titus 1:16 KJV
I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.
Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
Philemon 1:10-11  KJV

Reprobate.  There's that word again.  What does it really mean?
The calvinist, in his foolish imagination and childish picture thinking, would have us believe that God created most humans to be reprobate: worthless, useless, intrinsically evil. The biblical picture of creation always refers to the things that God creates as good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, etc.). 

Maybe this will help...
Paul exhorts Timothy (2 Timothy 2:15) to study the scriptures in order to show God that he is not a reprobate; that he is, in fact, approved to be God's servant.  The last thing that God needs are nitwits who cannot read (or, maybe worse, cannot understand what they read) saying ridiculous things about Him to people that trust in them.  The approval process was put in place so that ignorant people who are captivated by nonsense (like calvinism...) would be disapproved and disqualified as servants to the church.

To be disqualified in one area does not mean that a person is completely useless to God.  Paul writes to Philemon to explain to him how he has worked with Onesimus and brought him to the place where he accepted Jesus as savior and lord.  Onesimus, once the useless servant of Philemon, has been made new by Jesus and is now available to bring goodness into the life of his master.  They can bring goodness into the lives of one another. 

Jesus is God.  He is not portrayed in the gospels as pulling his clean white robes away from wretched, dirty sinners in order to remain clean.  His cleanness (righteousness) is who He is, and cannot be sullied by human sinners.  He is God and, as God, can take sin upon/into Himself in order to use that and other human raw material as the stuff from which He performs new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).  Do not be confused by reprobates who refuse to understand the clear meaning of God's word and make up foolish systems of thought to try to exclude sinners from contact with Holy God. 

Sinners.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

Wanted: Dead...to be made alive.

Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes,
that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus
with eternal glory.
It is a faithful saying:
For if we be dead with him,
we shall also live with him:  2 Timothy 2:10-11 KJV

Where is the salvation that the Apostle Paul is describing?  How can it be located?  Does a person have to get into some sort of psychic trance and return to his or her pre-birth on this earth condition and have a vision of their eternal election before the foundation of the world?  Has any sinful human ever brought back salvation credentials from the Library of the Living in pre-existing eternity?  The books are not available for examination until the END of everything (Revelation 20:12).  Any claim of knowing what was in them in advance cannot be proven biblically.

The elect are the servants* of God who choose to love and serve Him.  Any and all humans are qualified to join Jesus in His death in order to gain the status of elect/servant that Jesus longs to bestow upon everyone.  "...that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus" clearly points out that it was not imbedded in any other human individual before the foundation of the world. Not even in Adam.  Salvation is IN Jesus and that salvation belongs to all who are found in Him when the books are opened.  The calvinist formula tries to leap-frog over the requirement of death into their fantasy of a pre-determined life everlasting.

The end result of keeping the Law of God as a human is death.  A perfect keeping of the law by the perfect human, Jesus, resulted in His death on the cross.  When any of us is exposed to the law's requirements, we join satan in his ministry of lies and sin until we discover that we can turn to Jesus and cling to His saving death on the cross.  We are encouraged by the Holy Spirit to exchange death for death.  We are asked to turn our backs on reinventing reality and speaking the language of the original liar in order to obtain a death that makes us servants of God: true servants of one another who forsake the ministry of condemnation for the ministry of reconciliation.

There is good death for us at the cross of Jesus.  Jesus has told us to tell others about this simple exchange; trust Him and let Him apply good death to our dead lives.

Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

*Elect = Servant!  Isaiah 41:8-9...Isaiah 42:1...Isaiah 43:10...Isaiah 44:1...Isaiah 45:4

Surrender All.

For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God,
and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all,
to be testified in due time.  1 Timothy 2:3-6 KJV

All.
It does not say "Some."
All -- and the "all" is referring to men (v.4 & v.5).

So here is the calvinist reinvention: 1) "All" means something else in their alternate reality universe where they are (collectively, I guess...) God and define everything in their own, unbiblical terms, or, 2) Not all of the creatures derived by procreation from Adam and Eve, the original parents, are human...not considered a part of mankind.  This apostolic statement by Paul that clearly describes the ransom of Jesus' death as applying to ALL of mankind (v.6) gets flipped around to mean the minute number of pre-selected calvinists because they say so.  The implication is clear.  All of us that they consider to be pre-configured reprobates (the Bible does not agree with them anywhere) are not and never have been human.  Sub-human.  3) ...all of the above.

The desire of God's heart is that all of mankind will be saved.  People who say that they do not know how to find God's will for their life have not considered these verses.  God wants all of those who are blood-bought believers to introduce the rest of mankind to the Savior, Jesus Christ.  None of us is going to do it perfectly nor will we avail ourselves of every opportunity sent to us by the Holy Spirit.  However, to duck behind the wall when our Father is looking for someone to speak up or show up is unacceptable.  To have an accounting system that demands more than Jesus demands is Pharisaical/blasphemous.

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).  Isn't that a 100% proposition?  Every human is a sinner.  Every human is ransomed by the blood of Jesus.  The ransom is a gift.  A gift must be accepted.  Sinners have the human capacity to accept the gift as a good thing.

All sinners.
All.

Sinners.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

No pushing.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,  and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.   2 Thessalonians 2:8-10 KJV

Those that perish do so because they do not receive the love of the truth.  Notice that there is no mention of being pre-programmed for damnation.  Joining themselves to satan and accepting the language of lies as their mother tongue, those who perish are destroyed by Jesus in His coming.  Again, their reprobation is not described as being attached to them before the foundation of the world.  The calvinist nonsense that teaches pre-destined damnation is shown to be a lie in these verses.

Reprobates choose.  They continue to choose.  The language of lies gets good to them and, eventually, they can only lie and despise the truth.  Reprobates are not pre-programmed - they sink into the miasma of darkness because the truth requires work to which they will not apply themselves.  It becomes easier to believe the spicy hatred and malice of the false witness than the ordinary truth of a brother.  It is more entertaining to juggle lies than to plod through the sweaty work of dying to self (Genesis 3:19).

Fast forward to verse 14.  In the calvinist imagination of glory that is all about brightness and beauty and congratulating each other for being pre-selected, they fail to factor in where the Holy Spirit is pointing.  The glory of God for us as humans is nothing other than the cross of Calvary.  Whatever glory there may be in eternity, the cross cannot be abandoned for imaginary vistas of calvinist humanism.  Humans must receive the gift of the cross or lose themselves in forsaking the love of the truth.

Meanwhile, the love of God in the free gift of Jesus is able to win the hearts of those who reject the lies (exercise the imbedded faculty of knowledge of good and evil) and yearn for the truth.  The Holy Spirit will lead but He won't push.  The free gift must be received not imposed (Romans 6:23).

Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.